Reversing device for internal combustion engines



Jan. 27, 1931. c. H. LEUFSTADILIS 1,790,053

REVERSING DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES I Filed April 24, 19264 Sheets-finest 1 F/G. 6 6H 5 5 FREQ? Jan. 27, 1931. c. H. LEUFSTADIUSREVERSING DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledApril 24, 1926 Jam. 27, 1931. c. H. LEUFSTADIU? REVERSIRG. DEVICE FORINTERNAL COMBUSTIONJENGINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 24, 1ge

Jan. 27, 1931. c. H. LEUFSTADIUS 1,790,053

REVERSING DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed April 24, 1926 4Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Jen, 27, 1931 gCARI;g RmNrLEUFsmADI s; orLYSEKIL swEDEfi EvERsI ehEvroE FOjR NTEiutA -eoMBUsTIoN ENGINES i ip atcifiiedle n '24,

' T l- 's--invenrtio1r relates to a device for re f versing thedirection-of operation of internal combustion engines While 1noperat1o-r and more particularly to that type of S'HClL'ClQVlCGSinxwhielh compressed silver gasis 'uset'l as rch i'vin "medium inaeifecti'ng='tlie 'rever 'in a e 1 i v z: operation. 1 2- e V I Theobgect ea. this' nrventioiiis to etl'eet 1n 1 :n ore reliable mannerthan heretofore peesihle a positive and quicltreversiiig of bothsingle-cylinder, arid 'iiiulti -e vli ider internal eomhustion":engines; z s The methods as hitherto used to effect the reversingOfifltilifll combustion engines are 0' by ":eoimter explosion? and .12),reversing by Pans of compressed an:

- *Reversing by counter eKplo'sioir-ha's the iollowing 'drawba eks 1f- &mlsfire occ u'rs when 42 reversingsis'to be fleete d this may cause theeiigine :to stop. -In"feur-cylinder-engines the ignition should takeplace in, two cylinders :at ft'tlme 1n order --to",procluce '21suflioiently "high ztorque toi' brm'g about the reversing '3operatioiiiand, turthermore, a smaller flymea-nsofcompressed. air saidair is sup? Wheel t-lmi that ordinarilyusedmust he used 'nesII-Ittingun-& disadvantageous --influenee V oflabont engines upon the coupling andthe 'propeller ii ease in. the known method of reversii g by plied toall of *thecylindersot the eugine duringthe expzmsion' stroke. owlngilll'eto zt-large amount-of 2111213 required, as almost the entirespaee of all of the cylinders Will he filled with air, generally duringseveral revolutions. Furthermore, the engine must 'he' stopped to bethen again startedin the opposite direction Of-mOVGmQHt in which 0 easea: largeperiod-oftime is spent in start- 7 ing. 'As' the air supplied tothe cylinders fiplands r an effective cooling of the comb-us V :tio-n;clm1nber Willi-eke place, and the means 1 designed for enabling the sta-rting will, con 5 se'quently, be c'ooled-Vso-th'atmisfiremay occur.Such an arrangement can only housed inrconnection with;aimlti-cYlinderengines.

' The present invention hats for its object-to 7 -provide, a reversingdevice by-Whichtheabove stated difiicultiesinherent to the counter exfrom plosion reversing method and the compressed ersing method Willheohviated. The

neW: reversing 1=nethoclrequires only one" bylin der to. effect t ll-ereversiii gu A further ad-e vantage; due thereto, is 'thatthe sametype of reversing device used in si ng-le cylin- 1 Will-be reduced toaluminium. V i The invention is characterizech chiefly, by

lilipjhe admissioriof f really disconnected ngle" of :crank foreffeeting the reversing operatlon, the 2111' thus supphed to the-cyhlnder'preventing thep-lston from moving to- Wards the -oomhu-stionchamber and, before.

the pi stem 1 reaches v its uippe'ri 'dre ad center,' the 2111- willcause the pIStOHtQ aga-mmove' clownardlv thereby efieetiiig 2r reversingof the 'direction of movement ofthe engine.- v I j The. invention isillustrated in the" accom- *pzihying diagrammatic drawing Whieh shows gf one embodiment thereof.

.' F gure-'1 illustrates the normal position of the reversing mechanismwith the en'gine'op- Mating-clockwise. j I Figure 2 shows the positionofjse-id mum n'isn'i when reversing is to take plaoeit'rom clockwise tocounter cloekW1se'operation.-

so V e Figure 3 shows the position of the reversiog'mechanismimmediately after seidlrevers- 111g ope-ration has been completed.

fFigure 4=showsthesame position with the reversing valve gearingin'n'ormalpositio'nI Figure 5 shows the position of the mocha nismivheii adjusted for reversing the engine counter-clockwisetoClockwise-opera- Figure 6 showstheiposition of "the inechanismimmediately after saidreverSirig operation has taken place.

Figure 7' is v a side. elevation of the en'- I to s above the piston 8of the engine to be re thereto.

gine with thercversing mechanism applied WVith reference to the drawingthe numeral 1 indicates a receptacle containing compressed air or gas,as exhaust gases from an internal combustion engine or another suitablegas. Thereceptacle 1 is connected bye.

7 pipe 2 tothecasingS of a valve 4; Said valve the pipe 5.

' mounted on the journal 13. i

7 controls the connection between the pipe 2 and a pipe 5 leading tocylinderchamber 7 versed. The connection between thepipe 5 and thechamber 7 is controlled by' a nonreturn valve 6 adapted to be openedautomatically by the pressure of the gas within The valve 4 iscontrolledby a valve gear.- ing, comprising adetent 9, operated by an eccentric.on a shaft 10, which is operatively connected with the engine shaft, anda; striking piece 11 carried by a lever 12 pivotally A spring 14: tends.to maintain said lever in a position as shown Fig. 1 in which the piecellkeeps the detent out of operation. a The lever 12 is articulatedtoa-forkshaped friction element 15; arranged to cooperatell withtheshaft 10 as,hereinbelowdescribed. i A spring 16 connects the lever 12 toafdetent 17,.of a. valve gearing operated by an eccentric on ashaft -ldri ven from. the engine and icontrolling 7 *a fuel val've18 of theengine. ;A spring 19 *connects the'friction fork 15.130 a'haird "13 soasgto allow the-detent 9.t o assume its is as'follows'i a lev'rQOrf r.The. operation of the mechanism described -'--The detent-9 is soarranged :anddriven that, when in operation, it will open the valve 4during 'the-up-stroke of the piston 8 at a certain reducedunumber ofrevolutions. lathe POSltlOIPShOWIl in F gs. land 7 the hand lever 20 isin its normalposition both legs'of' the forklf) are'be'ld out 10fengagementwith the shaft 10. In this positionthe (letent '17 is in itsnormal position, while the 'deten't'9is-maintained out of operation bythe lever 12, The engine is assumed to operate inclockwise direction asindicatedby thearrow a. to theright in the figure.

NVhen it is desired'to reverse the direction of operation of'the engine,the hand lever 20 .is turned to theright as shown in Fig.2 of Y thedrawing so that the lower legof thefork 15 will come into frictionalengagement with the shaft '10. Thisengagement will give the forkadownward movement, as is readily understood. The fork, in mov ngdownwar.ds,.causes the lever 12 to turn on 1ts pivot operative position.vAt the same time the. spring 16, is. stretched, swinging. the detent 17-out ofoperative position, as shown. The

fuel supply will, consequently, be interrupted, successively reducingthespeed of the engine. Ata suitably reduced speed, the detentjQ isallowed to strike the valve f in the upstroke of'the piston 8, allowingcompressed air or gas from the receptacle lto enterthe cylinder chamber7 through the pipe while opening the valve 6. This compressed air I orgas will cause an increase of thepressure within the chamber 7 above thecompression pressurew corresponding to the respective position of thepiston.- In the continued upward motion of the piston the pressurewithin the cylinderchamber? will further increase due to the compressionto avalue above that also reversetherotation of the shaft with theresult that said shaft, due toits frictional V engagement with the'lower leg of the fork will causesaid fork to move upwardly allowingthelever 12to throw the 'detent 9 out. of operative position and againrestorethe' ,detent 17 to operative positionas shownin rise-w.

. After the reversing operation is completed, 1

the hand lever may berestored to itslneu tral o r normal position in.which it holds the fork out of engagement with the shaft 10. Thisposition is shown inFi-g. 4. V The engine isnow runningcounter-clockwise;

WVhen-itis desiredto again reverse the eng1ne, 'that-1s, fromcounter-clockwise to clockwise operation, the-'handilever 20. ismoved'to the left as shownin Fig. 5. The upper leg of the friction'fork1'5 will nowcome into contact with the shaft 10, resulting in adownward movementjof the fork 15 so as to throwthe 'detent'Q intooperation, while hringing the detent '17 i( )l1Zt O operation.

The reversing operation is nowperformed in the same way as abovedescribed. Fig. 6'

illustrates the'position afterthe engine has "been reversed fromcounter-clockwise.to 'ClOClKWlSG operation. After thecompletion of thisreversing operation the hand lever maybe restor'ed to its normalposition as shownin Fig. 7.

lVhatIclaim is: r A device for reversing internal combustion engineswhile in operation, comprising in combination with a valve gearing forcontrolling'the admissionof fuel to the engine,

means to"supply a=gaseous medium under pressure, a'valve to'controltheadmission- "of such medium to thecylinder of'the en- -gine, a valvegearing operated by the engine "to open said valve during the upstrokeofthe piston of said cylinder at a number of revolutions so reducedas'to cause said piston to stop and immediately reverse its moveinent'before reaching its upper dead center,

a shaft driven by the engine; manually controlled means to be operatedby frictional engagement with said shaft and reversed when the engine isin reversed direction to automatically bring the said last-mentionedvalve ge-aring'into operation fat-a certain direction of'rotation ofsaid shaft and out'of I operation at reversed rotation of said shaft,

and a connection between'said meansand the gearing of the fuel admissionvalve to maintain one of said valve gearlngs outof operation When theother 1s m operatlon, and woe versa.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name. a

CARL HERMAN LEUFSTADIUS

